Name Hong Qi Completed Early 1970s Commissioned Early 1970s | Namesake Red Flag Acquired Early 1970s Maiden voyage Early 1970s | |
Type 081 transport ship is a type of naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) since early 1970s. In addition to carrying cargos, Type 081 is also designed to carry some passengers as well. This class is derived from its unarmed sister ships in civilian service, which is a purely cargo version, not being able to carry passengers. These ships have received NATO reporting name as Hongqi (红旗, meaning Red Flag in Chinese) class.
Type 081 series ships in PLAN service are designated by a combination of two Chinese characters followed by three-digit number. The second Chinese character is Yun (运), meaning transport in Chinese, because these ships are classified as transport ship. The first Chinese character denotes which fleet the ship is service with, with East (Dong, 东) for East Sea Fleet, North (Bei, 北) for North Sea Fleet, and South (Nan, 南) for South Sea Fleet. However, the pennant numbers may have changed due to the change of Chinese naval ships naming convention. A total of seven have been identified: